Nanoscale metal organic frameworks and their applications in disease diagnosis and therapy

Nanoscale metal organic frameworks (nMOFs) are coordination polymers composed of organic ligands and inorganic vertices at nanometer scale. Inherent biodegradability, flexible ligands and adjustable metal centers allow nMOFs to versatile applications in biomedical care. The intensive studies have involved design and fabrication of multifunctional nMOFs and investigation of their biocompatibility effects, drug delivery ability for various diseases, especially for tumors. This article mainly summarizes and reviews the progresses on the medical and analytical applications of nMOFs in the recent decade. We provide a concise introduction to nMOFs first, and then focus on three typical categories of medical applications related with clinical disease diagnosis (biomarker detection and molecular imaging), therapy (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, phototherapy, microwave therapy, and ultrasonic therapy), and integration of both (mainly about imaging guided therapy). Each section is discussed in detail, followed by the future challenges and perspectives of nMOFs for medical diagnosis and therapy. This review may stimulate interdisciplinary research at nMOFs and clinical chemistry/medicine, which would propel nMOFs to advance into the translational medicine and clinical chemistry for practical uses.